Creditors A, B, and C accepted a 50% settlement of $3,000 each. Creditor D was tougher and accepted a 60% settlement of $3,600. Creditor E refused to negotiate. You’ve spent $12,600 to get rid of $24,000 of debt. That’s a good first step. You pay the remaining funds back to your 401(k) account. You’ve discovered that after the creditors closed your accounts, your credit score plummeted to 320. The lowest it’s ever been!
A financial institution such as a credit union, which typically issues credit builder loans, deposits a small amount of money into a secured savings account for the applicant. The borrower then pays the money back in small monthly installments — with interest — over a set period of time. At the end of the loan’s term, which typically ranges from six to 24 months, the borrower receives the total amount of the credit builder loan in a lump sum, plus any interest earned if the lender offers interest.
There are a lot of myths out there about credit scoring – hopefully we can help you understand FICO scoring, so you can take action to build your score. There are five major components FICO uses to determine a credit score. Fortunately, understanding the secret sauce can help you build a strong score and healthy credit report. Both a 700+ score and healthy credit report will help keep the rest of your financial life cheaper by enabling you to get lower interest rates on loans and approved for top-tier financial products.

Credit repair is serious business, and not a quick fix. The best way to rebuild credit is to work toward the responsible financial habits that will not only boost your credit score but will also make your finances more manageable in the future. In the meantime, there are some key moves you can make -- and mistakes to avoid -- in order to ease your path toward improved credit.

The other six tips above will help you fix your credit as fast as possible. It won’t be instantaneous, but everything we tell you to do is legal and proven to work. You’ll see improvement through credit repair within 30 days of when you start making disputes. Rebuilding usually takes about six months to one year to see significant improvement in your score.

Each of the nationwide credit bureaus — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion — is required to provide you with a free copy of your credit report once every 12 months if you ask for it. Go to annualcreditreport.com, call 1-877-322-8228. Otherwise, a credit bureau may charge you a reasonable amount for another copy of your report within a 12-month period.

I applied for a home loan - wasn't approved - the loan company works with people with subpar credit though. She gave me list of action items that needed to be done. She figured it would take me about a year to take care of it all. Gave me a deadline of 1 year out. I sat down did all her action items in a week - waited 30 days, credit jumped to 620. She got an approval on a home loan but it wasn't ideal. Waited another 30 days, credit was 651... she said we could get an ideal approval with a credit score of 640. I don't know how, but I was so happy. signed on house at 3 months instead of 1 year. The loan officer couldn't believe it! I now own my home, have lived in it for over a year. Love my house!